


To Love Is To Rebel

by madnessiseverything



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Violence, Whump, descriptions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 11:12:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9121060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madnessiseverything/pseuds/madnessiseverything
Summary: The day Ezekiel Jones disappeared was a surprisingly good day for the rebellion. They should have known it wouldn’t last.This was done for a Secret Santa.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fangirlandtheories](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlandtheories/gifts).



> This OneShot was done as a gift for [Summer](http://fangirlandtheories.tumblr.com/), as a part of a Secret Santa. I hope you enjoy it, love.

The day Ezekiel Jones disappeared was a surprisingly good day for the rebellion. They should have known it wouldn’t last. Col. Eve Baird had been walking around their camp with furrowed brows, her eyes scanning each face with worry nobody could understand. Her gut feeling had been acting up, making her restless. Jacob Stone, her second in command, had watched her pacing with a worried frown of his own. He knew she would tell him if she had concerns about the safety of the camp or their current mission, but the worry on her face was unsettling to witness.    
  
When the supply run hadn’t return in time, they knew something must have happened. And when only two rebels had arrived thirty minutes later, one with a bullet through their side, they knew that they shouldn’t have let their guard down. The supply run had been cut short by military troops returning to the old base and taking the snarky thief before either of his friends could help. Nothing had been left behind.   
  
It took them four weeks to find a trace, to find any clue as to where the troops had taken Ezekiel Jones. Four weeks of relentless search, of nights too cold and days too quiet until they caught word of a black haired rebel that was being held near Lake Abert.    
  
It wasn’t enough. The description was broad, they had no way of knowing if it was Ezekiel. However, it was the first inkling of a chance to find him again. Neither Jake nor Eve were willing to risk not following the lead.    
  
Their search of further clues lead them to Cassandra Cillian, a bubbly woman with a radio attuned to the military frequencies and maps of nearly every base built after the Overtaking. Her fingers were blue with ink and her mind filled with more information than they could ever comprehend. Cassandra agreed to help with nothing but their protection and company as her price.    
  
Another week later the three found their way into a destroyed hard drive Jake had managed to get his hands on. The five minutes of video and audio material Cassandra had managed to pull from it were enough to make their stomachs turn and hands shake.    
  
Ezekiel, strapped to a chair and fighting against the grip of three soldiers. A towel being thrown and held over his head while another soldier started pouring water over it. Ezekiel’s legs kicking out as he thrashed in panic.    
  
An audio file filled with threats of violence and questions about the rebellion, all answered by a voice they knew to be Ezekiel’s. It was broken, hoarse and quiet, but still undoubtedly his. The threat to cut off each of his fingers individually for all the crimes he had committed haunted Jake with images that made him retch, the taunts about nobody coming to Ezekiel’s rescue made anger that he had never before experienced flare up.    
  
Eve’s choked up voice repeating over and over how she used to think the military were the good guys, how she used to work with them made his fists clench.    
  
They had to find him, and they had to get to him now. They had to get him out.    
  
Cassandra held them together, her shaky voice still filled with determination enough to snap Jake out of his living nightmare and get them back into their work. Her maps proved beyond useful, her brain calculating distances and sounds that none of them could ever piece together. Jake knew that without Cassandra they would have failed long ago. The way the Colonel watched the redhead work, her arms crossed and following each word in Cassandra’s rambling with rapt attention, made it clear how lucky they had gotten with finding Cassandra’s hide-out.   
  
Now they were standing only a mile away from the base that held Ezekiel, the enforced fence only a few feet in front of them. Cassandra was talking rapidly in their ears, reciting the details of the base structure and weaknesses she had calculated. Their plan was good, better than some of their successful missions.    
  
Getting in wasn’t nearly as hard as Jake had imagined it to be. The fence was sparsely guarded by single soldiers they took out without much of a noise. The two rebels knew better than to not become suspicious.   
  
What they didn’t expect was to enter the building undetected, only to enter into a room filled with nothing but a screen. The camera in the corner of the room was disabled by Eve with quick hands, a skill Ezekiel had been insistent on teaching her. Jake focused on the screen and stumbled back.    
  
Unlike the clip they had pulled from the hard drive, corrupted and with glitches then, this video was perfectly clear. Ezekiel was being manhandled into the room they knew from the clip they had watched. His arms were limp as he was pushed into a corner. Jake couldn’t take his eyes off of the screen, nails drawing blood in his palms as he dug them into the skin. “I’m going to kill them,” he hissed. The soldiers on screen pulled Ezekiel up to his knees, exposing part of the thief’s abdomen. Jake inhaled sharply at the blood he could see. The soldier raised his knee and Jake finally closed his eyes.   
  
Eve pulled him away, turning him around and gripping his shoulders tightly. Her jaw was set, teeth gritted. “We have to get to him undetected,” she reminded him in a low voice. He nodded, forcing himself to calm down. He was no use to Ezekiel if he lost it.    
  
“Okay.”    
  
“He should be two right turns from you,” Cassandra spoke up and they were on the move. Eve went ahead, taking out guards and soldiers within seconds. Only the steel cold look on her face gave away how much the situation affected her.    
  
Jake dealt a final punch to the last guard and stepped over the crumbled form, joining Eve in front of the door to the room they now knew Ezekiel was being held in. Jake hated the fact that the noises inside were the giveaway. Eve nodded to him and kicked the door, foot hitting the knob and smashing it open.    
  
The next few seconds happened as if in slow motion. Jake and Eve barged into the room, Eve pointing two guns at two separate soldiers. Jake watched the third one jump up and pull a small handgun from his holster. Jake shot before the soldier could aim at Eve. His bullet went through the man’s head and he fell, crashing into the concrete floor.    
  
Everything fell silent when Jake set eyes on Ezekiel. The younger man was collapsed in the corner behind the fallen soldier, gasping for air. His eyes were screwed shut and trembling hands grasped at the concrete underneath him.    
  
Jake paid no mind to the guards, knowing Baird had them handled. He stormed forward and fell onto his knees next to Ezekiel. “Hey, hey, breathe,” he whispered, hands reaching out to tug Ezekiel into a sitting position. The thief flinched, eyes falling open in panic. Sound came rushing back to Jake as Ezekiel started coughing violently, water dripping over his lips as he twitched in Jake’s grasp.    
  
“Can’t-” he started before gasping for more air. His hands flailed, panic clear on his face.    
  
“Ezekiel, look at me, please.” Jake didn’t move his hands, no matter how much he wanted to pull Ezekiel closer. He just tilted his head and regulated his own breathing. “Breathe with me, c’mon. In-” he raised his hand and showed his fingers counting down from four “-and out. In… and out.”    
  
Ezekiel’s eyes focused on his hand as he tried to mimic Jake’s breathing. He choked, coughing again. His nails dug into Jake’s forearm but the rebel didn’t pay mind to the sharp pain. He repeated his count, breathing in and out. His mind was racing and he could feel his heart trying to escape his ribcage, but he focused on the way Ezekiel’s breathing became less erratic, matching his more and more.    
  
A sob escaped Ezekiel and he went limp in Jake’s grip, dropping backwards. Jake quickly caught him and tugged him forward until Ezekiel’s head was resting in the crook of his neck, cheek pressed against his shoulder. Jake closed his eyes as Ezekiel cried, hands twisted into the back of Jake’s jacket. He forced himself to ignore the lack of pressure from Ezekiel’s left hand, how limply it clung to him in comparison to the right. He could worry later. “Shhh, it’s okay. You’re safe, I’ve got you.” Jake repeated it like a mantra, desperate to convince himself just as much as the shivering man in his arms. “You’re safe, you’re safe. I’m here.”    
  
They still didn’t know why Ezekiel was taken, why they had chosen him. They had no idea of the full scope of the torture he went through, why the usually snarky thief was so utterly broken, shattered into pieces so small they weren’t sure how to fix.    
  
But all that mattered at this moment was that he was alive, clinging to Jake like a drowning child. Eve approached them with cautious steps and kneeled down next to Jake, a lump forming in her throat at the sight of her son in her second in command's arms. Jake looked up to her and she wrapped her arms around the two of them, closing her eyes to hide the burning tears.    
  
They had time to figure out everything else later. For now, they stayed on the cold ground in their enemy’s territory, soldiers’ bodies only a few meters away, and relished in the fact that they were alive.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://madnessiseverything.tumblr.com/)


End file.
